Wednesday, 1 August 2012

I have contacted the MoD Minister, the Rt Hon Andrew Robathan MP. I feel it timely to bring this to the attention of readers who are anxious that the old war-ship remains in the city of Belfast:-

"THE First World War cruiser HMS Caroline will be saved, the man in charge of securing the ship’s future said last night.

Professor Dominic Tweddle spoke to The News as the
deadline passed for heritage bids to be submitted to the Ministry of
Defence yesterday.

He said: ‘We’ll save the ship, I don’t think that’s now in doubt.’

But
Professor Tweddle, who is director-general of the Portsmouth-based National
Museum of the Royal Navy, remained coy on whether HMS Caroline will
remain in Belfast or come to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

The
warship, which was decommissioned by the navy last year after 97 years
in service, is the last surviving vessel from the famous Battle of
Jutland in 1916.

‘Everyone is agreed on her importance to the nation and how to save her,’ Prof Tweddle said. Now we’ve got to do some more work. I’m sure ministers will accept that the heritage parties can find a way forward.’

He said the final decision on where the ship will go on display now rests with defence minister Andrew Robathan.

He
added: ‘All he (Robathan) wanted was for heritage bodies to come up
with a solution that the MoD can support. We’ve done that and now he’s
got to decide.’

Prof Tweddle’s upbeat message was in stark
contrast to June when he told The News he feared the warship could be
sold for scrap if the MoD deadline wasn’t met.

The breakthrough comes after talks with the Northern Ireland tourism minister Arlene Foster and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

He said: ‘There is a heritage solution for Caroline, we believe. That’s been put to the minister and I can’t believe the minister will not support it.’

The News understands Northern Ireland ministers were first approached in 2009 about finding a heritage solution for Caroline.

But it was only after Professor Tweddle’s public warnings about the MoD’s July 31 deadline that words turned into actions.

Meanwhile,
there has been a behind-the-scenes campaign to bring the ship to
Portsmouth in 2014 in time for events to mark 100 years since the
outbreak of the First World War. It’s thought the ship could be opened
to visitors at the jetty next to HMS Warrior.

Yesterday, a
spokesman for Ms Foster said: ‘Officials have had a constructive meeting
with the museum of the Royal Navy on the July 18 and are continuing to
work with them to find a solution.’

A spokesman for the Ministry
of Defence said: ‘We’ve now received bids and will consider the future
of HMS Caroline. We will make an announcement in the future.’

1 comment
:

l. nolan
said...

having served on Caroline as a Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer in 1973/74 and still living in Northern Ireland I feel that Caroline should be saved for the Nation in view of her past history just like HMS CAVALIER which is preserved in the Historical Dockyard at Chathat in Kent.

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